Sky Sports is reporting that Newcastle United have bid £8M for FC Twente striker Luuk de Jong. Newcastle have been linked with the Dutch International for over a year now, and since Holland have been eliminated from the Euro 2012 Championships, Newcastle have gone in with their initial bid, which is €10M.
Luuk de Jong – Newcastle bid £8M
That’s a very decent initial offer for the 21 year-old, and Newcastle seem to be very serious, and de Jong will be brought in whether or not Demba Ba leaves Newcastle this summer.
The Dutch club are now reviewing their options, and it will probably please their English manager Steve McClaren, who had hoped Newcastle would bid early for any FC Twente players they were interested in.
Twente will want to get as much as they can for their 21 year-old star, and reports have pegged his value as high as £12.5M, and while Newcastle could increase their initial bid, they will not increase it by much.
Luuk de Jong would be a terrific signing for Newcastle, and at 21, he would be given time to get used to the English game, and challenge for a place up front with Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi.
The youngster has one year left on his contract at FC Twente, whom he joined from De Graafschap in the summer of 2009, and initially signed a three year deal with a one year option, which was taken up by the Dutch club.
The 6’2″ striker has scored 59 goals in 119 appearances for FC Twente, and has 9 caps for Holland with one goal.
We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed, but this is a very good move by Newcastle.
Here’s some video of the young striker – the next Robin van Persie?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0qXuXivFNA
Comments welcome.
65 comments so far
No Plain Saylor
Jun 19, 2012 at 12:35 AM
Comment #41How much did ola john go for?! He’s a great prospect
Charlietoon
Jun 19, 2012 at 12:57 AM
Comment #42Great news we have put a good bid in. I hope we can tie it up quickly.
hainesy
Jun 19, 2012 at 1:47 AM
Comment #43No Plain Saylor:
Hate to say it but Samba left in January
lukes26
Jun 19, 2012 at 2:16 AM
Comment #44Personally feel he’s better than Giroud..He would be AMAZING playing just behind Cisse. Just as good passing the ball as he is scoring.
For some reason, i just dont see him coming here though… it’s just too good to be true.
RonVanDam
Jun 19, 2012 at 2:19 AM
Comment #45I think one of the reasons that MA and co waiting so long to make a serious bid was due to the fixtures not released. Mustve realized on top on Europe, we have 2 tough opening league games against Spurs and Chelsea.
mattnufc
Jun 19, 2012 at 2:54 AM
Comment #46^Sounds like a stupid reason.
Hope we get him.
inceptoon
Jun 19, 2012 at 5:34 AM
Comment #47If we sign him and Ba stays then one thing is for sure that the press will call our strikers ” The Great B C D .” For them who don’t know it, its BA – CISSE – DE JONG. But another thing is also sure they will never call it ” The Great A(Ameobi) B C D .” Come on Ameobi time to lead the pack. Give us the ‘ABCD’ alias the ‘Serial Strikers.’
davybtoon
Jun 19, 2012 at 5:42 AM
Comment #48Gt89 I think ya spot on 10mill euro in cash upfront shud get him, like u they may get 12 or 14 offered but will probably only get 3/4mil then the rest will b in installments
toonarmydownsouth
Jun 19, 2012 at 6:26 AM
Comment #49Wow great signs of ambition from the club and tbf a pretty decent first offer for a player with only a year left on his contract!
Also very rarely do SSN put a story out unless there is alot of truth behind it be great if we can pull this signing off!
toonarmydownsouth
Jun 19, 2012 at 6:34 AM
Comment #50Also does any1 have a link to this story that we have increased our bid for debuchy??
cyprus
Jun 19, 2012 at 6:55 AM
Comment #51Ed,
First time I’ve seen him so can’t be a judge. Still, hope that video is not the best he’s got, he seemed heavy, misses sitters etc.!! In my mind we need a small, tricky, fast forward, like liverpool and City have. It’s those type of players that make Ferdinands and Terrys look decidedly average.
Also, should we not be looking for Walcott, young Robben style wingers who can break down teams, as defences are generally improving? Counters are more and more important these days
cyprus
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:05 AM
Comment #52As for the CB position mentioned by others, how about Shola taking that role?! He’s getting older, hardly ever scores, won’t get much of a game any more, BUT has bags of skill, does defend well, is intimidating, can get his annual Sunderland goal. Do your miracle AP!
DraperNUFC10
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:06 AM
Comment #53Follow me on twitter @Daniel_Draper95 I’ll follow back 🙂 HWTL,
dmac
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:08 AM
Comment #54Heres to hoping Mclaren helps his old buddy Pardew put and pushes the deal through!
danmuamua
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:30 AM
Comment #55Cyprus I hope you are having a laugh or you are drunk because the thought of Shola playing cb makes we want to start watching rugby. It’s like those idiots who used to say the same about speedo and shearer when their legs were gone. Players are specialized in their position you can’t just move them about anywhere on the pitch and expect them to do a job. As for de Jong I think he is a great signing as long as we keep Ba. All this talk about let Ba go is crazy. He is a top class forward who would be an asset for any premier league club but for some reason isn’t good enough for us. Let’s hope a new rb, cb, cm and winger are on their way to Geordie land.
Grafton83
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:37 AM
Comment #56Hate to put a negative spin on things but it seems to me that he will be a replacement for Ba. The club wouldn’t spend this much otherwise.
Also is there not a way to stop DraperNUFC10 from spamming every comments sections with his studpid twitter requests. I don’t know how twitter works exactly but can’t he find some friends somewhere else it all seems a little desperate to me and doesn’t need to be repeated on every article that appears here.
cyprus
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:44 AM
Comment #57Dan,
no, not drunk 🙂 ! Btw, totally agree with your Ba comment, you don’t find 16 goal forwards just like that. The Cisse arrival unsettled him, but he’ll get it together again. For any doubters, take a look at the goals he scored, throughout his career. As for Shola, I admit I’m one of those frustrated people with him, though I do understand his loyalty and his strengths. And, regarding your comment about permanent positions, no I totally disagree on that. There are dozens of examples. If you’ve played football you’ll know that maybe you somehow started as, say LB, but then ended up as a forward (e.g. Bale) If Shearer had continued, yes, he should’ve changed his role as he was barely cutting it at the end, and it would’ve been embarrassing for him to continue. So, yes, Shola for CB!!
mindshaft
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:51 AM
Comment #58The Bentner fine is ridiculous, i dislike him personally but to fine him 80k whilst fining clubs and associations a lot less for racial abuse and dodgy dealings just shows uefa care more about sponsorship abd money than anything else – pathetic, they could have just fined him 10k and banned hom for a couple of games
cyprus
Jun 19, 2012 at 7:57 AM
Comment #59Isn’t it possible that the underwear company will give him that money?
Nalbandian must be feeling sorry after that 43000 pound kick!
bills-son
Jun 19, 2012 at 8:01 AM
Comment #60A big factor in us signing good players will be that we can’t guarantee them a first team place. Neither De Jong or a CB are likely to start ahead of Ba and Cisse or Colo and STaylor and the same goes for a DM where Tiote is the man. The likes of De Jong won’t, and shouldn’t, be happy sitting on the bench at NUFC whereas they might be with 50% more wages at Chelsea, City or ManU. Thats the reality of football.
It shows the club’s ambition that we are willing to pay £8M for a back up striker and also MA’s nous. I’m absolutely convinced MA doesn’t want to sell Ba but he won’t be held to ransom. If De Jong signs the ball is right in Ba’s court and its no panic if he leaves.
This is a totally different transfer window for us to last summer. We are in Europe, we have 7/8 nailed on first team players and new signings cant expect to walk into the team. It will be really interesting to see how it all pans out.
One things for certain though, I bet we have a stronger squad for next season plus all of last seasons signings will be better for the experience and well settled in. My bet is HBA and Cisse will be awesome and put themselves in the superstar bracket.
Get the summer signings right and we have the makings of a genuine top 4 team. Behind the two Mans and Arsenal I think we could be the match of Chelsea and better than Spurs or Liverpool.
north east lincs toon
Jun 19, 2012 at 8:27 AM
Comment #61Zapata is very injury prone
cyprus
Jun 19, 2012 at 8:27 AM
Comment #62Bills-son,
your posts are always optimistic and that is comforting. Regarding new players etc, yes, we have 7-8 nailed first teamers, but, really, at the next level that is not how it goes. People get injured, lose form, don’t always fit contingency formations. Strong teams need double that number, and depend on rotation, which rests players (remember how knackered super-Guti was in the end), and keeps them on their toes. That’s AP’s next challenge: to find 15 good players (hard), to keep them all happy and performing (harder)
cyprus
Jun 19, 2012 at 8:33 AM
Comment #63Also, forgot to mention, players do get sold, not because any owner wants it, but it just happens. Then, smaller teams, like your Boltons, find themselves in deep trouble. So, yes, we need much more depth… good job, MA, but please more of the same this summer.
newcben
Jun 19, 2012 at 8:43 AM
Comment #64@tarie4
Of course Pards wouldn’t wana start the new CB instead of Collo of STaylor but what if his hand was forced by injury. Thats my Only concern.
@No Plain Saylor
I think he went for around 9mEuros, which i personally think is a steal for a 19 or 20 yr old with his talent, don’t know why he chose Benfica surely better clubs were interested.
On another note I hate the way most fans are so forgetful, I feel sorry for Ba. I personally think he is a better footballer than Cisse and given the chance he would of scored the goals Cisse got at the start of the season he was immense.
His all round game was incredible where as Cisse is a bit clumbsy but seems to score belters while missing the easy chances. This leaves me worried that Cisse maybe a one hit wonder…..I bloody hope I’m wrong but time will tell.
DraperNUFC10
Jun 19, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Comment #65Add me on twitter @Daniel_Draper95 I’ll follow back 🙂 HWTL